How would the absence of space look like?
Think as if you have reached the edge of space, for all people who believe the universe is finite, you reached a point in space where it ends. No more matter, no more 'space' itself, you are there at the very edge of space. Wat would you see out there? Infinite blackness? Could you enter this domain devoid...
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answers:
Robert say: Not sure I think there is an edge to space BUT if there was, I think you would have difficulty seeing anything. Light needs space. You're talking about a place where reality itself breaks down so there's no science to determine how light behaves beyond space. My point is, we have no frame of reference to interpret anything we might "see".
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anand say: There is no spacelessness. If you go to the edge of the universe and extend your arm out, the arm will still occupy some space. Space is infinite.
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nineteenthly say: Space is a relationship between things, not a container for things.
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Zheia say: Everything may shrink to an infinitely small point.
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Jeffrey K say: Space does not have an edge. If it is finite, it is a finite unbounded manifold, like the surface of a ball. If you go far enough, you are back at your starting point. The topology of space could be like the 3d surface of a hypersphere or a hypertorus, or others.
Nothing can leave space or exist where there is no space. Matter and energy are properties of space just like ocean waves are a properties of the water.
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Raymond say: Earth's surface is finite. Yet, it has no end. If you start off in one direction and you keep going, you would never reach an edge. You would, however, pass over the same spot every 40,000 km.
Earth's surface is a 2-D example of a surface that is finite, yet has no edge.
The same concept does exist in 3-D. There are 3-D geometries that are finite, yet have no edge. And yes, if you were to start off in one direction and try to go forever, you would, in such a geometry, pass through the same spot after a while.
In the real universe, you would have at least two problems:
1) by the time you come back to the same spot, things would have moved around so much that you would not recognize anything.
2) Because space itself is expanding, the distance left to cover, before returning to the start would keep increasing instead of decreasing. We know that the universe is at least 3 times bigger than the portion we can see. If that is all there is to it, then the circumference of the universe would be (let us say) around 120 billion light years (in comoving coordinates).
By the time you travel 10 billion light-years, the remaining distance would NOT be 120 - 10; it would be somewhere around 140 or 150, because space would continue to expand everywhere during your travel time.
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Bulldog redux say: Space has no edge, not even if it is finite.
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Paula say: The idea is that anything exiting the boundary of the universe causes the boundary to recede.
And I point out that at the "edge of the visible universe" galaxies are receding from us (in all directions) at near the speed of light. Thus the edge of the actual universe is receding from us at least this fast. And to overtake any of those galaxies it would be necessary to travel at the speed of light, or faster than light (which is not possible according to Einstein).
Anyway.
If you did manage to go past the edge of the universe ...
there is a sign there saying --
"Go Back You Are going The Wrong Way"
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Ronald 7 say: There would be plenty of Goats in trees
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billrussell42 say: there is no edge of space.
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Tom say: You would end up seeing into the OPPOSITE side of the universe.
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cosmo say: The Big Bang is probably a 4-D hypersphere with a characteristic radius of curvature around 10^21 lightyears.
If you go in any direction infinitely fast, you wind up where you started. It no more has an "edge" than does the surface of the Earth. It's finite but unbounded.
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goring say: A different type of space. However, in order for gravity and time to exist in the space structure of the universe,it would have to be restrained into a gravity boundary under a particular pressure
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Who say: like the gap between your fingers when you press the together
but there is no "end" or "edge" to the space in the universe
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diamond say: Nothing
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james say: Put you in mind of a 2 bunkbed bed spacer. Shared by 12 people. 4 beds for 12 people.
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D g say: you think of space as only a thing like light .. its not its TIME ALSO ... there is NO TIME or SPACE OUTSIDE the universe time was created in OUR universe so outside it does not exist so we could not experience things as we do here
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Kherova say: No one knows, but it's possible that there would be no light, so nothing to 'see.' If the physics of space and time break down, concepts like see or edge won't mean the same thing anymore. That is one reason it is hard to predict the actual beginning of the universe. The beginning did not support a concept like time, the structure wasn't in place yet.
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NONAME say: I think you could enter it. I think we live in a bubble universe...so going in would eventually lead you back around to the other side...perhaps with some kind of wormhole could you escape to possibly another bubble universe..and i think the true universe is a multiverse of bubble universes
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Jim Moor say: I know what you mean. I think just blackness
But in reality, we haven't even landed a man on Mars yet (unless kept secret), so we are far from exploring the limits.
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Ariel say: The Old Ones looking back at you, and waiting for you to foolishly break the barrier and let them back in to reality.
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Acetek say: not possible. there is no edge to the Universe
The short answer is that this is a nonsense question, the Universe isn't expanding into anything, it's just expanding. The definition of the Universe is that it contains everything. If something was outside the Universe, it would also be part of the Universe too. Hence there is no edge
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CarolOklaNola say: You would not KNOW you are at the edge. Hypothetically, if the Universe is a sphere, there's no sharp edge because the Universe is expanding, how would a sentient virus know it is on the inside of a basket ball or a beach ball. It wouldn't.
We don't know what the SHAPE of the Universe IS.
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